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Where Green and IT Meet

By Linda L. Briggs

06/26/06

If you don’t know much about your school’s energy management
program and systems—software programs that share the campus
network—now’s the time to get up to speed.

HERE ARE SOME interesting facts you may
not know: US colleges and universities spend
nearly $2 billion each year on energy, according
to the federal government, and the Department
of Energy (D'E) estimates
that the average PC wastes up to 400
kilowatt-hours of electricity per year simply by
running at full power when no user is present.

What should this mean to you? Simply
this: As an IT manager, how much do you
know about your school’s energy management
program and systems—some of which
are sophisticated software programs sharing
the campus network? Although the cost of
energy is soaring and computers are voracious
energy consumers on campus, many in
IT know very little about what their school is
doing to save energy. That’s partly because
most energy dollars don’t come out of the
typical IT budget. The energy it takes to run PCs and
servers across campus generally belongs to the facilities
side, and is regarded as a set cost of doing business.

But those perceptions—that energy consumption is a
fixed cost, and that IT isn’t involved—are both increasingly
out-of-date. Computers are playing a growing role in energy
management, as schools rely on sophisticated computerized
energy management systems that rival the complexity of
mission-critical systems on campus. Adopting a strategic
approach to energy management, especially as new buildings
are planned or retrofitted, can lower a university’s energy
bills by 30 percent or more, according to figures from the
government’s Energy Star website.

Computerized energy management systems, also called
building automation systems or direct digital control systems,
offer software and hardware specifically for measuring
and controlling energy consumption. Some share the campus
network; others require dedicated servers and networks.
Energy management systems typically connect with
different systems across campus to collect data on everything
from room temperatures, CO2 levels, and occupancy
rates, to the energy used by soda machines and exit signs.
And IT can play a critical role in helping to select, install, and
manage these complex systems. (See “Find Out More
About Energy Management Systems.”)

Still, what’s the bottom-line payoff when IT gets
involved in helping select solid products for energy management?
Answer: Significant savings to the overall university
budget, which ultimately benefits everyone, of
course. IT also can make sure that the right products are
selected, and can work with the operations side to help
make sure the systems are fully utilized.

According to Debra Rowe, a professor at Oakland
Community College (MI) who has been teaching energy management for 27 years, computerized energy management
systems have been standard for some time now, but
many of them aren’t being fully used. Reasons range from
lack of staff knowledge or inadequate information from the
system’s vendor, to an over-tasked facilities manager who
d'esn’t have time to implement or manage the system. But
Rowe, a fellow in The Association of University Leaders for
a Sustainable Future, says energy management
systems “can be incredibly efficient, and [serve as]
a learning tool for students.”

At Syracuse University in New York, the IT and building
maintenance factions on campus work together for the
common good. The Department of Energy and Computing
Management is staffed with sophisticated maintenance personnel,
but aided by IT staff. Both sides eventually report up
to a director of energy and computing management.

Steve Lloyd is associate director for energy at Syracuse,
where he oversees the computerized management and
scheduling of building mechanical systems. On the IT side is
Systems Administrator Michael Kearns, who works for an IT
group but estimates he spends 50 percent of his time supporting
the computing needs of the energy group. That
includes selecting and purchasing servers and workstations,
as well as managing the software applications that they use.
Kearns admits he d'esn’t know what other schools are doing,
but adds that it’s becoming pretty standard to have facilities
and IT work together. “We work pretty much in lockstep with
[the energy group]. The computing requirements are so great
[for facilities], and there are also disaster recovery, backups
and restores [to deal with].” He reports that Syracuse uses a
Windows-based software product called Continuum, from
TAC. The energy system shares the school’s
fiber network, one of the reasons that IT is involved. The computing
group also is responsible for the energy system’s hardware—
IBM midrange xSeries computers
that serve as dedicated energy servers.

At the University of Michigan, IT Planning Manager David
Anderson works on the building maintenance side, but sees
more and more of a melding of IT and building maintenance
functions as energy management systems grow in complexity.
“These systems are becoming more complicated in
terms of the IT world,” he says, adding that he’s fortunate to
have a background in computers; it has helped build trust
with the IT staff, who understandably don’t always want to
“hand over the keys” to someone outside IT. Michigan’s
energy conservation program, in place since the 1970s,
uses roughly $50 million worth of equipment to save around
$10 million a year in energy costs, Anderson estimates.

Find Out More About
Energy Management Systems

BIG NAMES IN COMPUTERIZED ENERGY management in higher
education include Honeywell, TAC, and Johnson Controls. A
company called Tridium offers sophisticated
browser-based software dubbed Vycon Energy that monitors energy
consumption using data from embedded systems throughout the
campus—heating and air conditioning, lighting, process controls,
computers, and so forth.

Products with these sorts of sophisticated, web-enabled or
network-based infrastructures mean that both building management
and IT need to be involved in their selection, installation
and maintenance.

According to Kevin Klustner, CEO of Verdiem, whose energy-saving software runs over the network to shut
down PCs when they’re not in use, “We typically get in the door
through operations and facilities, but we try to get IT involved as
quickly as possible. Our value proposition resonates with IT.”
Klustner says Verdiem’s product can save from $10 to $30 per PC
per year, depending on the cost of electricity in an area—savings
that can quickly add up. He maintains that most customers
realize a positive return on investment in 15 months, and rebates
from local utility companies can boost the ROI even more.

More on Intersecting

If you’re ready for more information on the overlap between
energy management and IT, there’s plenty available. For
starters, there are a number of resources specific to energy
savings in higher education at the Energy Star website. Energy Star, a joint program of the D'E and
the Environmental Protection Agency,
encourages energy-efficient appliances, including computers.
Resources include a calculator to estimate potential
savings, lists of product vendors, and suggestions on ways
to get started.